This invention relates to can openers and particularly to automatic can openers for opening food and beverage cans. Under normal conditions an automatic or electrically driven can opener is considered superior to a mechanical can opener for the obvious reason that it facilitates the operation. There are situations, however, in which facility in itself is not enough to render the automatic can opener superior to the mechanical can opener if the speed of opening the can is not significantly enhanced. Commercial situations, for example, in which a large number of cans are required to be opened quickly and efficiently necessarily place as much emphasis on the speed of operation as on its facility of operation. In those situations in which a large number of canned beverages are sold to the consuming public, a need exists for a portable automatic can opener that can be used by a vending operator in the sale and distribution of canned beverages. In such cases, especially when the vendor services a seated spectator to a public event, for example, the vendor must insure the freshness of the beverage or drink by opening the can just before sale and then pouring the contents, as required by law, into a paper cup. Commercial viability of such sales depends in large measure on how fast the vendor can open the can and pour the contents into a cup. If the vendor chooses to use a manually operated can opener for that purpose, he or she will soon incur fatigue if not injury from the prolonged repetition of opening cans for multiple consumers. On the other hand, if the vendor chooses to use the provided opening mechanisms on most beverage cans, he will soon suffer discomfort if not injury to his fingers; and should his fingers survive that kind of punishment, he will soon tire of performing the added step of puncturing an air hole in the can to facilitate pouring. Then again should the vendor use, say, a conventional battery-operated can opener, his ability to perform with speed and quickness will suffer dramatically.